July 29 - Tasermuit Fjord, Southern Greenland - Spend day hiking and exploring this spectacular southern fjord. This evening we will visit the small island of Uunartog, where we will enjoy some enjoy the hot waters of some ancient hot springs!
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(Posted Friday 10:50 AM ET)
Geoff Green - Expedition Leader



Good morning from Nanortalik, Greenland where we arrived this morning at 8:00am. This is a small, colourful Greenlandic town of about 1,400 people. Upon our arrival this morning, the former headmaster of the local school, and present-day tour guide, came on board to tell us a bit about the history of the town, and the present day issues. Everyone is now off on a walking tour of Nanortalik. The highlights are sure to be the incredible museum they have here, and the Greenlandic choir that are going to sing for us in the church! We set sail at 1300hrs this after noon to travel northwest to the tiny uninhabited island named Uunnartoq. Here there are ancient hotspring pools built by the Inuit which we hope to bask in for a few hours while watching icebergs drift by….

But lets back up a bit to yesterday, which turned out to be an incredible day of discovery. It began with our early morning departure from Prins Christian Sund, and our arrival to the Viking ruin site Herjolfnaes. High winds meant that we had to anchor about 2 miles away from the site, which resulted in a long, wet and fun Zodiac ride. The site dates back to 985 when a small community of Vikings settled here. It would have been a strategic spot for trade and apparently the main Viking here was quite a businessman. We walked amongst the ruins of the old Church, barn, hall, as well as their earthen homes. The cold and misty weather definitely inspired respect and appreciation for the Vikings and the conditions they endured. It was great to see many of the students sitting off by themselves trying to absorb this place, the history, the surroundings… Today they stepped back in time…

In the afternoon we sailed up the famous Tasermuit Fjord. For years, I have wanted to go up this long and dramatic fjord, but never had the chance. Finally, yesterday we did it and it did not disappoint. In fact, it far exceeded all expectations. Near the end of the fjord, as we approached the Greenland Icecap, we came across two valleys stretching off to the east. Now I have been fortunate to see some of the most beautiful valleys and mountain ranges in the world, but this was truly a Lord of the Rings experience. Towering spires up to 2010 metres (ie Torres del Paine), hanging glaciers, waterfalls, raging rivers… But the most surprising and bewildering aspect was the incredibly lush vegetation. There were meadows, flowers, birds, mushrooms, lichens, mosses, junipers, and even trees! Big trees! The smells, the sounds, the power of this place was overwhelming. You might even say spiritual. Which may be why it called Monastery Valley, due to the ancient Viking monastery ruins found here. It is also aptly called the Garden of Eden of Greenland…

In small groups we spent over three hours exploring and hiking throughout the valley. Some groups became mountain climbers and reached the higher bluffs for a spectacular view of the valley, while others beach-combed, searched for the Viking ruins, and enjoyed interpretive talks from the staff. What a classroom! I think everyone at some point took a moment and realized they were in a very special place where few have been before. It was quite surreal…

Back on board for a late dinner, the atmosphere was again charged and vibrant. It is wonderful to see how this group of students and staff are really coming together. The sharing, the passion, the knowledge, the experiences, the friendships, the new ideas, perspectives and discussions….this is what Students on Ice is supposed to be all about… and this is what is happening before our eyes.

Stay tuned…. Geoff

Interesting Links ...

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=4035 (Ice cap more)
www.mapmart.com/WorldSatelliteImagery/Countries/Greenland.htm (great satellite images)
News about World Harmony Run/SOI in Iceland - www.worldharmonyrun.org/iceland/news
(Follow this site about SOI’s ongoing participation in the run in Greenland and Canada)

JOURNAL ENTRIES - Posted Saturday July 30th 6:00 PM ET

Hi again from the Arctic!!! Here we are day two on the largest island in the world---Greenland.which is, as you know, not very green at all! They say if you get lost in a forest on Greenland or Iceland, how do you find your way out? Stand up!!!! Most of the vegetation is very low to the ground. We visited the village of Nanortalik today---seeing the sites of the town and did a little shopping. We had some lectures after lunch and then got on the zodiacs to go to a Viking hot spring.and then also another dip in the ocean (I declined), but Sean went in many times. It was something to see him in the water with icebergs in the background. Greenland's entire population is about 55000 people..and Iceland's population is 300,000 total. We went out yesterday afternoon for a hike in a beautiful glacial valley.everyone was exhausted after.and morning came all too soon. They keep you busy. The weather here on Greenland has been foggy, cool, and sometimes rainy. We had very warm and sunshine type weather on Iceland. We have another day on Greenland and then off to Baffin Island (which will take a sea day to get to). When we have been on Greenland and away from the ship and villages, they carry rifles in case of polar bears.even though this is not the time of year they should be
here.there is always that possibility.

Cheryl Horton, Chaperone, Brenham, Texas

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We arrived at Nanortilak, the southernmost city in Greenland. The city was pretty cool. We walked around town and looked at the view. The graveyard was right next to the school. I wonder if they're saying something. Is that where misbehaving children go? Pretty morbid. All the houses here are painted in various pastel colors. I guess that is done to counter the grayish greenish background. I bought a few souvenirs here. A fleece and a beanie (or "tuke" if you're Canadian). Items here are really expensive. Anyway, at 11 we all headed to the church to hear a choir sing. They all took an hour off work that day just to sing for us. Their blend was amazing. I believe the average age in the group was 65 or 70. We went back for the ship after their amazing concert and set sail once more. This time we were sailing to Uunartog Island, an island that is uninhabited and filled with hot springs and Viking ruins. On the way, we had a lecture about oil. Did you know that 98 % of crude oil goes into products that create the harmful emissions to the atmosphere. The rest goes into stuff like plastics. This means if we switch to an alternate fuel source, we eliminate a majority of the problem. After the lecture we viewed a twenty minute video on the impacts of climate change, both the good and the bad. I hope I could show that video to my friends or the rest of the school. After that, we reached the island and got ready to go ashore. It was a short hike across flat land. Once we reached the hot springs we changed in these pre-built houses. The guys house, of course, was the nearest to the hot spring. After staying in for a few minutes, Justin told us our plan. What plan, you ask? Keep reading. At the count of three, Justin jumped out of the water and told us to start. Adrenaline rushed through my body. It was now or never. I got up and started to the edge of the hot spring. I stepped out. Darn, it was cold. My Tae Kwan Do instructor wanted me to train, well, here I go. I move my right and left foot alternating quickly. Eventually my feet carried themselves. My brain had no control over my feet. All it did was apply more pressure to one foot or another to avoid the sharp rocks in the ground. Justin pointed to another hole in the ground. A second hot spring. Our rest stop. Air whizzed past me as I sprinted in the fog and mist and straight into the second hot spring. We warmed up for another few minutes then, up. I jump out of the hot spring onto the mossy ground. A dash, following Justin, our chaperone for this expedition of ours. I reach the edge of the mini-cliff we were on. Looking ahead, I see a slope filled with sharp rocks. After the rocks is the ocean. The Atlantic Ocean. I take a deep breath and begin my descent. Cold wind blowing and mist all around us. Water vapor and cold wind never mix well. My brain works overtime so my feet find the flat rocks and grass. The grass was a mistake because the mud didn't like my feet. Out it goes from under my feet and I fall hard onto the rocks. It's too cold to just sit around among the rocks. Without thinking, I jump up and continue. I reach the end of the shore. A vast ocean lies before me. The others started lining up alongside me. Justin counts to three. It's now or never. A risk I will take. An experience. "Three!". I run forward into the ocean. After I'm knee deep, I plunge my entire body in. My feet lose its footing and I slip hitting the rocks. Every muscle in my body seizes up as I scramble out to reach the shore. My feet can't get a grip on anything. I reach the shore. My eyes closed. I wipe my face clean and I feel the cold Arctic wind again. Blood rushes through my veins to every muscle in my body. I begin my scramble backup the hill. The faster I move the warmer I get. I sprint to the second hot spring and jump in. I get warmth again as I marinate in the spring. I then continue back to the first hot spring. No more cold. The overrush of blood keeps me warm. Once I reenter the first hot spring I relax. I just took a polar dip. A dip in the Atlantic Ocean. A dip from Southern Greenland. Once the second group got to the hot spring, I went for another dip in the ocean. It's like a Scandinavian massage or something. After sitting in the hot spring for awhile my friends and I started a massage train. Once I started feeling cold in the spring (I got used to the heat), I stepped out and went with the first group back to the ship. After dinner the entire group went to the lecture hall for storytime. We all went to sleep immediately after that.

Ankur Gupta,San Jose, California

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July 29, 2005

Today, we got off our ship, the Explorer to visit the tiny town of Nanortalik. The weather was dreary as usual but the town was brightly lit up with the multi-colored houses and the smiles on everyone's faces. The locals had no problem making us feel welcome as we meagerly tried to talk to them with a few words of Greenlandic, their main language. While we spent our morning touring the town, we got to listen to the local choir in their cute little church. The music was so warming but I found that the most amazing thing in the church was Geoff's bald head! You see, Geoff is always wearing his ball cap but he took it off respectfully when he walked into the church.

Then we took off on our ship to visit a secluded island and its hot springs. This was the most amazing part of my day. We got into the hot spring and then ran to the beach in the freezing cold.in nothing but our soaking wet swimsuits. I happened to only get into the ice-cold (literally, there were icebergs in it) ocean water for only about half a minute before screaming and running back to the shore. When I got back to the hot spring though, is when all the fun started. In there we had a massage chain and I got to be in front of it for awhile with Bruce massaging me. He asked me if "I liked it hard, or rough" and I about died laughing. Then Random David came over and I had to massage him. Random David is one of the coolest guys ever! I got to put rocks all over him and when he stood up it was all stuck to his swimsuit. HAHA! After all the massaging we had to get out and get ready to go back to the boat. Only problem was many of us had brought nothing to change into. Soooooo, we just decided to go commando underneath all of our warm layers. It was fun. :-)

After it all I think that today was one of the best days on the trip. It was because I got to talk to my mommy on the phone and then I got to spend more money! But all in all things are looking up today even though we haven't seen the sun for a full two weeks. As a side note to my family, I got to see a bearded seal and it reminded me of Princess, my puppy. I miss my dog! Oh yea, last night one of the leaders, Fritz, no one really knows his age but he reminds me of my Grandpa, pole-danced for us and he took off his pants. It was quite possibly the funniest thing yet! (I hope you're reading this Fr. Pierre!)

Much Love to all at home,

Heather B.

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Today we went to a town in Greenland. I bought seal merchandise that I'm hoping I'll be able to bring home to the US. I bought my mom and I purses (both very different) and JR and I little matching slippers! They're all really nice and cost me 1,986 kronar! Don't worry mom, that's worth a lot less in American currency. It's Danish here and they said it's about 6-7 kronar per American Dollar. I'm sitting in the lecture hall as I type. We're doing a check to see if everyone is here before we start. "I'm sitting right in front of you." Some people can be so dense. anyway, I've thoroughly enjoyed Greenland. It's so gorgeous and natural. There are icebergs and green landscapes and Viking ruins and the cutest small communities. I'm just really glad that I have so many valuable assets here on the ship and out in the field to show me just how special every part of this is. Yesterday, we took 2 different hikes. There was a short one, and a long one. This makes a lot of sense because we are all at different levels of physical fitness. Well, I took the "short hike." Short is, I guess, in the eye of the beholder. Once we got there, they gave us a couple of different options. We could go with different scientists and they would thus point out different aspects of the area that pertained to their particular forte. I chose to go with David to study the biology of the area. There were tons of different jelly fish washed ashore. We studied some botany, including some mushrooms of which the students wanted to know their edibility. I guess we didn't really go that far. I mean, the terrain was very hard to climb and slippery. We went through trees and bushes and over lichens and mosses. We saw birds and mussels and other small shell-living creatures. We hoped to see some arctic hare, but all we got were swarms of the arctic mosquito. I woke up this morning with a huge quarter-size bump on my head. It's just behind my bangs on my right-hand side. Apparently, the mosquitoes, that happen to have really bad aim, got lucky and left their mark on me. The scientist that took us out there told me I should be honored to be marked by such a species. I mean, we have them too; they're just less fuzzy and more precise at home. On the social side, I'm making a lot of friends here on the ship. I've become a part of a couple of different groups, and I have learned who I should avoid. I like hanging out with my friends, but I've been more focused on getting as close as I can to the scientist and writers and photographers on our journey. They're all so amazing and have such fascinating stories to tell us. I'd hate to look back on this trip and feel like I wasted my time and my parent's money! Well, I should probably go now. I'm actually getting really into this lecture. It's about how oil affects us in both negative and positive lights. Thanks for checking in!

Mary Ann Thornton

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Random

I am random, those who know me will attest to this

So, 'twas pretty sweet when a massage chain started in a hot spring somewhere on the coast of Greenland.
I was kinda worried about college & making friends. but why should I be? I've met some amazing people on this trip and I feel like I have known them for years rather than 6 days. Blah. It was strange how happy I was after talking to my parents. Maybe because this is the first time ever that I have been totally cut off from my life-making it that much more special to hear those familiar voices on the opposite end of the line. The people of Greenland are really, really friendly-this one man wanted a few of us to go play piano at his residence, it was hard to tell him that we didn't have any time left.

I had a chance to think about things on the first landing in Greenland-at the 'Viking Ruins'-it was raining and very windy. We were allotted time to explore the landscape. Boulder and pool scattered we carried on, looking for our own personal spots. Mine was by a pool between two slabs of rock that blocked it from the wind. I felt absolute peace inside and out-maybe it was because I looked down and saw glacier raped terrain-foreign yet obvious; commonly harsh. The land didn't lie about what it had been through and I admired Greenland. I still do. But the bugs gotta go. Seriously. I miss my parents. And I'm happy I have a dorm like a normal college student. Woot!

Carolyn Roberts

A few new photos ...